CFB Cold Lake

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Cold Lake Airport CFB Cold Lake 4 Wing Cold Lake
IATA: YOD - ICAO: CYOD
Summary
Airport type		Military
Operator		DND
Serves		Cold Lake, Alberta
Elevation AMSL		1,775 ft (541 m)
Coordinates		54°24′18″N, 110°16′46″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
04/22	8,270	2,521	Asphalt
13L/31R	12,600	3,840	Asphalt
13R/31L	10,000	3,048	Asphalt

Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake (IATA: YOD, ICAO: CYOD), commonly referred to as CFB Cold Lake or 4 Wing Cold Lake, is a Canadian Forces Base located 5.5 nautical miles (10.19 km) southwest of Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada. It is operated as an air force base by Canadian Forces Air Command and is one of two bases in the country using the CF-18 Hornet fighter/interceptor. It is also Canada's largest Air Force Base.

[edit] History

Construction of what would become known as RCAF Station Cold Lake began in 1952 at the height of the Cold War after the site in Alberta's "Lakeland District" was chosen by the Royal Canadian Air Force for the country's premier air weapons training base. The chosen location was near the town of Grand Centre, and was based on factors such as low population density, accessibility, weather, suitable terrain, and available land for air weapons training.

Personnel arrived at Cold Lake on March 31, 1954 with operations at RCAF Station Cold Lake beginning that day. The following year, the federal government signed an agreement with the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta for use of a tract of land measuring 180 km by 65 km covering an area of 11,700 square kilometres. This became known as the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range (CLAWR) and is the raison d'etre for the location of the base.

CLAWR is the northern equivalent to the United States Air Force's Nellis Air Force Range and provides a different training environment with heavy boreal forest and numerous lakes more closely resembling European terrain. It hosts over 640 actual targets and 100 realistic target complexes, including 7 simulated aerodromes with runways, tarmac, aircraft, dispersal areas and buildings, as well as mechanized military equipment such as tanks, simulated radar and missile launching sites, mock industrial sites, and command and control centres.

On February 1, 1968 the RCAF merged with the Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Army to form the unified Canadian Forces. RCAF Station Cold Lake saw its name changed to CFB Cold Lake and in 1975 became the responsibility of Canadian Forces Air Command.

During the 1980s, CFB Cold Lake was thrust into the international media spotlight when CLAWR was used as the target for testing of the newly-developed AGM-86 air launched cruise missiles by the USAF. These missiles were launched from strategic bombers over the Beaufort Sea and travelled down the Mackenzie River valley, closely following the terrain at elevations of several metres above ground level. The tests caused significant controversy among peace activists and local First Nations on the projected flight paths since the new untested weapons were considered a destabilizing force in the international arms race, potentially contributing to instability worldwide. The Federal Court of Canada ruled in favour of allowing the tests to proceed in 1983 and the Canada-United States Test and Evaluation Program or CANUSTEP agreement was subsequently signed between both nations, allowing for the cruise missile tests to use Canadian airspace in the Northwest Territories and Alberta en route to CLAWR.

Today, CFB Cold Lake is Canada's largest and most remote air force base, with the following units stationed at the facility:

409 Tactical Fighter Squadron (CF-18 Hornet)
417 Combat Support Squadron (CH-146 Griffon)
419 Tactical Fighter Training Squadron (CT-155 Hawk)
410 Tactical Fighter Training Squadron (CF-18 Hornet)
1 Air Maintenance Squadron
Weapon System Manager Detachment Cold Lake
42 Radar Squadron
10 Field Technical Training Squadron
4 Airfield Defence Squadron
Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment

In addition to its value as a training base, CFB Cold Lake's fighter/interceptor aircraft defend the western half of Canadian air space and together with aircraft from CFB Bagotville cover Canada's Arctic territory. They are operationally controlled by NORAD from CFB North Bay and Cheyenne Mountain Operations Centre in Colorado Springs. Cold Lake aircraft forward deploy to airfields throughout western and Arctic Canada as operational requirements dictate.

Cold Lake also hosts NATO flight training operating from nearby 15 Wing Moose Jaw, as well as 5 Wing Goose Bay. MAPLE FLAG is a major international air weapons training competition hosted annually by CFB Cold Lake in May-June, making use of CLAWR. The name is derived from the USAF's famous Red Flag training exercises at the Nellis Air Force Range in Nevada.

CFB Cold Lake is the current home of the Cold Lake Air Cadet Summer Training Center (CLACSTC), held annually from June to August.

[edit] See also

Cold Lake Regional Airport

[edit] References

Canada Flight Supplement. Effective 0901Z 15 March 2007 to 0901Z 10 May 2007.
Exercise MAPLE FLAG

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